peter
“I’m a pretty closed person, and not very social. I like being alone. Once a couple out in Kildare asked me to be caretaker of their house while they were travelling. All I had to do was live there, turn on the heating and dust off the place. It was pretty isolating, but I enjoyed it a lot. I was on my own for 13 months, 7 days a week. I had my own routine every day. I had time to write a book which’ll be published this autumn. Every two weeks when I came back to Dublin for a day or two I experienced culture shock and when I went to the first pub to get drunk. I never really worked or left my parents’ house before that, although I registered for film extras and they called me a couple of times. Most of the time I just had to walk around or pretend to have a conversation in the background, but once they made me dance in a Bollywood movie, and another time I had to be a dead body and lie in a sack for hours, but for 100 euros a day you wouldn’t say no. I find it hard to manage my life without the support of my parents, but my goal is to move out of the house. They’re both retired now, and I really want to find a way to let them live their lives.”